A couple of years ago, the Tijuana Xolos were just another anonymous team languishing in the second tier of Mexican soccer. But Sunday afternoon, 18 months after being promoted to the elite first division, the young upstarts have a chance to win the prestigious 18-team Torneo Apertura and stake a claim to being the best team in the country. How unusual is that? Well, imagine the minor league Toledo Mud Hens joining the National League and winning the World Series a year later.

TIJUANA - Drawing an estimated 4,000 people to a field dedication ceremony in his former hometown Saturday, Adrian Gonzalez said he gained an appreciation for what it would mean to be the captain of Mexico's team at the World Baseball Classic in the spring. "You see how special it is and how much it means," Gonzalez said. Dodgers third baseman Luis Cruz and Gonzalez's brother, Edgar, will also represent Mexico. Fernando Valenzuela will be the team's pitching coach. This will be Gonzalez's third time playing in the tournament, which starts in early March and will force participants to sit out a part of spring training.

Tens of thousands of vehicles took a modified route from California into Mexico on Thursday with the opening of an expanded entry point at the busy U.S.-Tijuana border crossing that hopes to double the number of vehicles processed. Drivers heading southbound from San Ysidro, Calif., made the switch at 6 a.m. when the Puerta Mexico station closed and the new El Chaparral location opened. Even Mexican President Felipe Calderon swung by for an inaugural visit. Though changes to U.S. Interstate 5 to accommodate the new entry point haven't yet been funded, there's a temporary connector road after the Camino De La Plaza on-ramp that directs travelers to take a sharp right-hand turn onto a four-lane road.

Investors who lost millions of dollars when a Donald Trump condominium project in Baja California failed during the economic meltdown are going to get some of their money back - over Trump's objections. A developer of the Tijuana resort agreed to pay $7.25 million to settle a lawsuit brought by 190 buyers - many of them from Southern California - who lost $22 million in deposits after the project failed in 2008. Trump, who remains a defendant in the investors' lawsuit, wanted developer Jason Grosfeld to cover 100% of the buyers' losses.

A former Mexican liaison officer who worked closely with U.S. law enforcement was sentenced Monday to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to passing on sensitive information to organized crime members in Tijuana, federal authorities said. Jesus Quiñonez Marquez, 51, the former top liaison official for the Baja California attorney general's office, was arrested in 2010 as part of a wide-ranging investigation targeting the remnants of the Arellano Felix drug cartel. Quiñonez, in his plea agreement, admitted that he provided information to help crime bosses avoid arrest in a double homicide case in Tijuana.

It turns out America still makes something. That would be: hipsters. And the numbers say the world can't get enough of 'em. According to Google search data examined by the Los Angeles Times, global searches for “hipster” and “hipster”-related topics are soaring toward an all-time high in 2012. Worldwide, searches have tripled in the last three years with no signs of slowing. This despite the fact that barely anybody knows what a “hipster” is. Hipsters started out as a mostly white, mostly urban, mostly obscure-music-listening, vintage-clothes-wearing youth subculture.

LAS VEGAS -- Boxer Antonio Margarito, whose career was stained by the 2009 confiscation of plaster inserts inside his hand wraps, announced his retirement Thursday. "After twenty-two years of full dedication to the profession I love, I have decided to announce my retirement from boxing,” Margarito said on his Facebook page. “After thinking broadly and in detail with my family and my team, we have come to the conclusion that it's time to hang my gloves and start a new chapter in my life.

Hugo Crosthwaite has left his indelible mark in group shows across L.A. in recent years, but hasn't had a solo outing here since 2005. His work now occupies Luis de Jesus in the fullest sense of the word. It takes possession of the space; it claims complete visual, emotional and physical attention. Crosthwaite was born in Tijuana, grew up in Rosarito, attended college in San Diego, and now divides his time between Brooklyn and Rosarito. The show, "Tijuanerias," like much of his prior work, scrutinizes his hometown with tenderness, toughness, a knowing eye and a lively sense of humor.

SAN DIEGO - For years, Benjamin Arellano Felix eluded U.S. law enforcement while running a Mexican drug cartel that terrorized rivals and poured hundreds of tons of cocaine into the country. So when the handcuffed kingpin arrived in San Diego aboard a government plane last year, U.S. authorities gathered on the tarmac, sharing hugs and handshakes as he was handed over to his longtime pursuers. But the sense of triumph has turned to disappointment in some quarters as Arellano Felix approaches his judgment hour in court Monday.

Americans who enjoy using recreational drugs probably don't like to imagine the ripple effects in Mexico: the predatory narco gangs and corrupt cops in Ciudad Juárez, the bullet-riddled bodies and ravaged neighborhoods in Tijuana and Michoacán. But at a recent rehearsal of "Timboctou," a darkly comic, disquieting play set against the backdrop of the Mexican drug wars that's having its world premiere through Sunday at REDCAT , director Martín Acosta reflected on the bloody connective tissue that the experimental drama weaves between Mexico's ruthless narco lords and their naive and insatiable U.S. customers.